In male rats, giving kisspeptin directly into the brain raises testosterone, but giving morphine (an opioid) lowers testosterone and blocks the kisspeptin boost. Blocking opioids with naloxone also raises testosterone and works together with kisspeptin. This shows opioids can interfere with hormone‑stimulating pathways like kisspeptin’s.

Kisspeptin and naloxone stimulate the reproductive axis while morphine inhibits its function. We have investigated the effect of central injection of kisspeptin-10 on mean plasma testosterone concentration in morphine or naloxone pretreated rats. In this experimental study, 60 male Wistar rats that were divid- ed into 12 groups (n=5 per group) received saline, kisspeptin (1 nmol, ICV), naloxone (2 mg/kg, subcutaneously), morphine (5 or 10 mg/kg, sc) or co-administrations of kisspeptin, morphine and naloxone at 09:00 - 09:30. In the co-administrated groups, kisspeptin was injected 15 minutes following morphine or naloxone injections. Blood samples were collected 60 minutes following injections via the tail vein. Plasma testosterone concentration was measured by a rat testosterone ELISA kit. Central injection of kisspeptin or subcutaneous injection of naloxone significantly increased the mean plasma testosterone concentration compared to saline while subcutaneous injections of different doses of morphine (5 or 10 mg/kg) significantly decreased testosterone compared to saline. The results revealed that morphine significantly attenuated the testosterone increase after kisspeptin injection compared to kisspeptin while a stimulatory additive effect was observed in the kisspeptin/naloxone group compared to either naloxone or kisspeptin. Morphine and kisspeptin systems may interact with each other to control the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis.